INDIA NEWS

To cater to the growing demand for talent in sectors like Retail, Banking and Finance, All India Management Association has joined hands with Indira Gandhi National Open University to offer sectoral programmes for emerging industry.

Talking about the highlights of the programmes which will be jointly offered by AIMA and IGNOU, AIMA President Kewal Handa said, 'We have not finalised the specific programmes as they are under process. The programmes will be taught by faculties of AIMA and IGNOU.'

More girls taking to engineering studies in India

More girls in India are taking to engineering studies these days. The enrolment of girls in technical institutes in the country has gone up from 22% in 2002 to 125% this year, with most preferring system engineering and information and communication, says a survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India.

The survey was carried out under the Social Development Foundation on 'Rising Trend of Women towards the Technical Education' and covered over 20 engineering schools, including the National Institutes of Technology (NITs). It was discovered that females' participation in acquiring engineering skills since 2002 onwards was more towards system engineering followed by information and communication, environmental and electrical engineering.

PwC and IIM-C join hand to offer IFRS training

Auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and Indian Institute of Management – Calcutta have entered into an agreement to launch dedicated executive programmes on International Financial Reporting Standards which will be adopted by India by 2011. Besides training, PwC and IIM-C will also develop the concept and position papers on various IFRS-related technical matters and industry related issues.

IFRS is the standard which would be adopted by more than 100 countries in next few years and financial reporting by an organisation under this format would be acceptable globally. The training courses are expected to be introduced from November.

Maharashtra plans bill to keep CBSE, ICSE students out

Maharashtra government is contemplating a law barring admission in junior colleges to students passing out of ICSE, CBSE and IB board schools, according to an announcement made by School Education Minister Hasan Mushrif in the Legislative Assembly. The move has been proposed following allegations that these institutions do not comply with the statutory norms laid down by the state school education department.

Of the 3,500 English medium schools in the state, ICSE, CBSE and IB schools number around 500. The state also plans to bring all unaided schools under the control of the government by giving them aid.

IIM Ahmedabad to launch carbon finance course

After the Indian Institute of Management – Lucknow, it is now the turn of IIM Ahmedabad to launch a programme on environmental management strategies with special focus on carbon markets, a market in which India is now the second largest seller in the world. The course, to be launched this academic year, is aimed at providing conceptual and practical understanding of the anthropogenic forces causing climate change, the global legal and institutional framework and mechanism to deal with it.

The course has been divided into 14 sessions and will introduce the evolution of the global carbon market, the current state of international negotiations on climate change and developments following the Kyoto Protocol.

Bihar allocates INR 58.6 crore for NIFT branch

Bihar government has approved the allocation of INR 58.6 crore for the setting up of a branch of the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Patna. The amount will be spent on NIFT's infrastructure, including building and equipment. Of the total amount approved, INR 27 crore will be spent in the current financial year.

The classes are expected to begin this academic session. It will initially have a small batch of students and function from a temporary building, which is being renovated.

UGC committee recommends additional 735 universities

To increase the enrolment rate in higher education, a UGC committee has suggested starting additional 735 universities in the country during the 11th Plan ending 2012 to increase gross enrolment rate in higher education to 15% from the current 10%.

The committee, set up to suggest reforms on the affiliation system and monitoring of education in 11th Plan, has worked out a formula of 20,000 students per university to achieve the target. At present there are 388 universities in the country.

IGNOU to launch new medical courses

Indira Gandhi National Open University has joined hands with Christian Medical Association of India to launch a set of medical courses through its distance learning model. The university will offer short and long term training courses in health related areas like medical, allied health, among others.

The IGNOU signed a MoU with CMAI for setting up of 'CMAI-IGNOU Chair for Health Sciences' in this regard. The new health care courses will be 'need based' and emphasis will be on developing and imparting professional and quality health care training.

OLPC to launch student laptops in Indian languages

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, launched by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte, will now introduce laptops with various keyboards in local Indian languages. Research is being conducted on introducing these laptops in regional languages like Urdu, Hindi and Bengali so that education is digitalised.

According to OPLC, at present a few laptops were given to students in Khairat village of Raigadh district in Maharashtra, under the project. These laptops have been localised and have come with Devanagari script.

IGNOU to set up national centre for IT-enabled education

The Indira Gandhi National Open University is setting up a nodal centre to facilitate collaboration in research among colleges, universities, and R&D establishments across the country.

The Advanced Centre of Informatics and Innovative Learning (ACIIL), to be established as a hub institute on the lines of National Education Grid, will work as an autonomous inter-institutional centre of excellence under Open University Act and will be governed by the UGC.

The ACIIL will conduct academic research at post-graduate and PhD levels in areas such Information Sciences, Applied Computer Sciences, scientific database management apart from development of web-resources, e-governance and extend knowledge in areas related to socio-economic development.

Delhi to give scholarships to poor students

In an effort to encourage underprivileged students for higher studies, Delhi government has announced scholarships for those economically backward students taking admissions in higher education institutions in the national capital. For this, a Delhi Higher Education Aid Trust will be constituted which would be headed by the Minister for Higher Education.

The trust would provide scholarships, education loans, stipends, prizes and other financial assistance to economically backward students. The government would contribute an amount of INR one crore as corpus fund for carrying out the objectives of the scheme.

Online exams for Kendriya Vidyalayas

soon The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is planning to create a database of questions based on the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking System), the concept which was introduced by the Central Board of Secondary Education to develop critical thinking and analytical skills of students.

Through this online testing, students from all KV schools will be able to test their knowledge online, based on questions thrown by a question bank. A report on this test will be generated thereafter. This will allow a student to immediately figure out how much he or she has learnt, and which areas to improve upon.

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